This is an experiment to connect to a Cisco C3640 router from Windows 7 and Ubuntyu 12.04 OS’s running on a laptop with no regular COM port. Thus the main challenge had been to ensure that the USB to Serial port Converter would work effectively in both environments and thus Console access could be achieved.
Hardware:
Dell Inspiron 15R N5110, 2.4 GHz, 4GB DDR3
Unbranded USB2.0 to Serial Port Converter
Cisco Console Cable
Cisco C3640 Router
Operating System:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Live session from persistent USB boot drive
Softwares:
Putty SSH Client : Windows 7 and Ubuntu
Vista Prolific chip driver for serial adapter : Windows 7
Steps to be followed in Windows 7:
1. Connect a serial cable to the USB to RS232 adapter. It is not necessary to connect to a router just yet.
2. Connect the USB to Serial adapter to one particular USB port in the machine. The same port has to be used at all times for console access.
3. Download and install Vista Prolific Chip driver for serial adapters from this particular source. LINK .
4. Check Device Manager (Start > Run > devmgmt.msc ) and ensure that a new port has come up. Note the COM port number (eg: COM15)
5. Download and install Putty SSH Client from SGTatham
6. Select Connection type as Serial, and Serial line as COM15 in PuTTY Configuration.
7. Click on Default Settings and Click Save to save the Serial port settings.
8. Set speed as 9600
9. Connect to a Cisco C3640 router and press Open on the Putty Configuration to access the IOS terminal.
Steps to be followed in Ubuntu 12.04:
1. Connect a serial cable to the USB to RS232 adapter. It is not necessary to connect to a router just yet.
2. Connect the USB to Serial adapter to one particular USB port in the machine. The same port has to be used at all times for console access.
[191526.757961] USB Serial support registered for generic
[191526.757985] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[191526.757987] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
[191526.778577] USB Serial support registered for pl2303
[191526.778606] pl2303 8-2:1.0: pl2303 converter detected
[191526.790285] usb 8-2: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[191526.790297] usbcore: registered new interface driver pl2303
[191526.790299] pl2303: Prolific PL2303 USB to serial adaptor driver
Hello, very usefull article !
Just don’t forget to open putty as ROOT (via terminal => sudo putty) besause in user mode it doesn’t work !
aparecio en mi pc, pero nose ni como usarlo o si es bueno tenerlo instalado. podrian decirme si cale la pena tenerlo y por que? gracias.
I dont understand Espanola, brother!
Working on ubuntu 10.04 x86_64. Nothing to install. I use pl2303 to connect to a embedded board. (ALIX.2D13)
Good article. Concise. Thanks.
hi gokul…ur tutorial is really helpful for me…..thank you ….
Hi Gokul, Thank you for this tutorial. We had trouble getting serial communication working with Minicom. You suggestion to use putty solved our problem in a jiffy!
Thanks For this Tutorial Very Helpfully (now my Ubuntu box Connected Console HP Procurve Swithc)
Verry good advice you guys, after “sudo putty”, it works perfectly for me and some other friends, thanks a lot.
Thank you for this Tutorial, is just what I need to test my USB to Serial converter with PL2303 chip. Do you know if could work for programming purposes? Itś for an old Motorola MC68HC908GP32 evaluation board. Thanks again.